Francis C. Barlow

Francis Channing Barlow (19 October 1834-11 January 1896) was a Union Army Major-General during the American Civil War. He later served as New York Secretary of State from 1866 to 1867 and State Attorney General from 1872 to 1873.

Biography
Francis Channing Barlow was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1834 and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, graduating first in his class from Harvard before practicing law on the staff of the New York Tribune. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, he joined the New York state militia, leaving behind his new bride one day after their marriage to fight for the Union. By the spring of 1862, he became colonel of the 61st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Peninsula Campaign. He saw his first action at the Battle of Fair Oaks, and he repulsed the Confederates and captured their flag in the Battle of Glendale; he also held the line at the Battle of Malvern Hill. Two days after the battle, he was promoted to Brigadier-General, and, while he was said to have looked like a "highly independent mounted newsboy" due to his boyish face and thin voice, he was known as a confident and aggressive general. Barlow was wounded at the Battle of Antietam, and, although he suffered from malaria for months, he distinguished himself at the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville. His soldiers despised him for arresting the popular colonel Leopold von Gilsa, and, at the Battle of Gettysburg, they left him for dead after the fighting at "Barlow's Knoll". Barlow was captured by the Confederates but left behind during their retreat, and he was hospitalized until April 1864, when he commanded a division in Winfield Scott Hancock's corps during the Overland Campaign. After 21 hours of hand-to-hand combat, his men broke through the Mule Shoe salient at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864, and he later fought at the Battle of Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg. He took convalescent leave in July and returned on 6 April 1865, fighting at the Battle of Sayler's Creek and the Battle of High Bridge, the later of which forced the Confederates to retreat to Appomattox, where they were trapped and forced to surrender on 9 April. After the war, Barlow married Robert Gould Shaw's sister Ellen, and he left the army on 16 November 1865. Barlow served as New York Secretary  of State from 1866 to 1867 and as New York State Attorney General from 1872 to 1873, prosecuting Boss Tweed's political machine and investigating irregularities in the 1876 presidential election. He died in New York in 1896.